Dillon Hodges is a left-handed flatpicker from the Muscle Shoals area of Alabama. He won the National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield, Kansas, in 2007 at age 17. He went on to play guitar for Missy Raines and Rockin’ Acoustic Circus. In 2015 he released a pop album on Atlantic Records under the name firekid.
Why Hodges matters
Hodges is the one left-handed player to win the Winfield flatpick contest in its first four decades. He won it as a high school senior on his fifth try. Then he took bluegrass guitar somewhere most contest winners do not go, into a major label pop record. For a jammer, his story shows how far daily practice on fiddle tunes can carry a player.
Life and career
Hodges grew up in Florence and Muscle Shoals, Alabama. His uncle gave him a yard-sale guitar for his eleventh birthday. A neighbor who taught bluegrass gave him free lessons and took him to festivals. He told Acoustic Guitar magazine that for five or six years he practiced eight hours a day. He also went to jazz camp and played in his high school jazz ensemble.
He entered the Winfield flatpick contest four times without placing in the top five. In 2007, at 17, he won first place, $2,000, and a Collings Winfield Model guitar. Around that time he played in a band called Against the Grain and released a CD, Stormy Weather, produced by Nashville flatpicker Tim May.
In 2009 he played guitar and sang with Missy Raines and the New Hip on Inside Out (Compass Records). In September 2011, while finishing his last year at the University of Alabama, he joined Rockin’ Acoustic Circus as the band moved to Nashville.
He then formed the pop project firekid. Atlantic Records released the album firekid on September 25, 2015. Its first single was Magic Mountain. He toured North America behind the record in 2015 and 2016. In 2016 he co-wrote This Boat with Tim May for the Tim May and Steve Smith EP.
Playing style
Hodges plays left-handed. Acoustic Guitar magazine described his playing as a mix of flatpicking, bluegrass, and jazz, and he brings bluegrass melody into his pop songs. He does his own arranging. He has said he tries to play like Tommy Emmanuel. On stage with firekid he plays a Gibson J-45.
Influences and legacy
A bluegrass-only neighbor gave Hodges his start. Tommy Emmanuel shaped his approach. Tim May produced his early record and later wrote with him. He played beside Missy Raines, Ethan Ballinger, and Michael Witcher in the New Hip, and beside Rachel Baiman and Sterling Abernathy in Rockin’ Acoustic Circus.
Essential recordings
Inside Out, Missy Raines and the New Hip (Compass Records, 2009) firekid (Atlantic Records, 2015)
Awards and honors
National Flatpicking Championship, Walnut Valley Festival, first place (2007)
Watch and listen
Acoustic Guitar magazine filmed Hodges playing three tunes in 2016. He picks with his left hand. Watch how close it stays to the strings on the fast runs.
What to learn from Hodges
Learn one fiddle tune and then reharmonize it. Play Salt Creek straight, then swap in a jazz chord or two under the B part. That is the bluegrass and jazz mix Acoustic Guitar heard in his playing. The technique to steal is his practice habit. He played in the car, at dinner, and while doing homework. Ten minutes of tune work in every spare gap adds up faster than one long session a week.
Sources
Winners archive, alphabetical, Walnut Valley Festival Dillon Hodges, Pickers Paradise Firekid is a red-hot country picker, Acoustic Guitar Acoustic Guitar Sessions presents firekid, Acoustic Guitar Firekid, Firekid, Discogs Missy Raines, Blue Plate Special and new CD, Bluegrass Today New look for Rockin’ Acoustic Circus, Bluegrass Today Rockin’ Acoustic Circus in Nashville, Bluegrass Today Tim May and Steve Smith, Bluegrass Today Heidi Feek, Wikipedia
Related players
See the guitar players hub and the guitar guide for more flatpickers. Other Winfield champions on this site include Matthew Arcara, who won the year before Hodges, Bryan McDowell, and Allen Shadd.